1.
GV ZOOM IN Aircraft at Salt Lake City Airport
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2.
SV & CU INT Passengers in lounge (3 shots)
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3.
LV & CU Police search cars at night in Provo, Utah (4 shots)
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GV Sunrise
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SV & CU Daylight search
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AIR V Helicopter over lakes
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LV Men searching on ground (2 shots)
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AIR V Scrubland
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GV Helicopter searching.
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HIJACKED AIRCRAFT AT SALT LAKE CITY AIRPORT: PASSENGERS IN LOUNGE: POLICE SEARCHING AT NIGHT IN PROVO: SEARCH CONTINUING AT DAWN--HELICOPTER, MEN SEARCHING GROUND: SCRUBLAND.




Initials BB/1722 LD/MR/BB/1800


TELERECORDING

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced today (Sunday) that they had arrested a Vietnam war veteran--25-old Richard Floyd McCoy--after an intensive search for the man who had hijacked a United Airlines Boeing 727 on a flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, on Friday (April 7).

Our film shows the search for the hijacker during the night of Friday and early Saturday morning in and around Provo, Utah. The hijacker had forced the pilot to San Francisco after taking off from Denver; there he demanded--and got--parachutes and a half a million dollar (192,000 pounds sterling) ransom to allow the 85 passengers off before making the pilot takeoff again on a route over Utah, where he eventually baled out. Authorities had placed a bleeper in the parachute--so as to be able to track it later.

About 200 Federal agent and local police, supported by six helicopters and two aircraft, scoured a 200 square mile (320 square kilometres) area--before finally arresting McCoy quietly in his home. He will be charged in the Salt Lake City, Utah, Federal Court--and could, under the Federal "Crime-aboard-aircraft" statute, face the death penalty, although so far the Government has not sought capital punishment for hijacking.

SYNOPSIS: At Salt Lake City airport on Friday night--the aircraft which had earlier been hijacked on a Los Angeles to New Jersey flight. On Sunday, the FBI announced the arrest of vietnam war veteran Richard Floyd McCoy, as the suspected hijacker. Armed with two guns, a grenade and plastic explosives, the hijacker had forced the aircraft to detour to San Francisco, where he demanded--and got--a half-a-million dollar ransom and parachutes. Then, releasing the 85 passengers, he made the pilot take a route over Utah, where he baled out in the Provo area. Authorities had hidden a bleeper in the parachute, and the search was soon under way in the Utah scrubland. Two hundred Federal agents and local police, supported by helicopters and aircraft, combed the area through the night. When the announcement of McCoy's arrest came on Sunday, the FBI said he had been captured quietly in his home and would be charged in Salt Lake City. Although to date capital punishment has not been sought for hijacking--McCoy could face the death penalty under the Crime-Aboard-Aircraft statute.